Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Game 7

Here we go, Game 7. The Red Sox would have jumped at this chance four days ago when they were down 3-1 and they’re definitely jumping at it now.

Daisuke Matsuzaka had, in Jonathan Papelbon’s words, "a grin on his face" after the Red Sox won Game 6. He badly wants to redeem himself for the way he’s pitched so far in the playoffs.

Can Jake Westbrook do what Fausto Carmona couldn’t last night and quiet the crowd?

By the way, how bad is the timing of this HGH/Paul Byrd story for the Indians? The last thing they wanted today was an added distraction.

In a shocker, the Red Sox are keeping the same lineup that produced Saturday’s 10-2 romp.

The Indians will not play Nixon. Gutierrez is back in right.

By the way, the most revealing stats to come out of last night? The Red Sox are 13-3 in elimination games since the 1999 playoffs. And Curt Schilling has pitched five times in his career with elimination being the consequence of a loss.He is 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA. And the no decision was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, his epic duel with Roger Clemens that the D-Backs won in the bottom of the ninth.

Best case scenario for the Red Sox tonight would be seven innings from Dice-K and two from Papelbon. That way you could open the World Series with Beckett if you can win this game. Tito said before the game that Wake is the only pitcher not available tonight. He threw a side before the game. I’d think he might be a candidate to pitch one of the first two games of the WS. Not sure you want him pitching in Coors Field. the last time the Red Sox went to Coors, back in 2004, they purposely re-aligned the rotation so that Wake wouldn’t pitch.

The crowd last night was the best it’s been all year. Tonight’s will be louder. That is, unless Westbrook or the Cleveland bats can keep them quiet.

Wakefield could be with this team as long as he is able to field his position. The knuckeball exerts no stress or fatigue on the arm so it is not like he is going to blow out a shoulder or an elbow throwing it. As long as he can stay in shape he will be playing baseball whether thats until he is 42, 45 or even 50.

I do agree though that tonight he should not be pitching. I said yesterday have Dice-K give you 5-6, Beckett 2-3 and then Pap for the final 3-6 outs.

Wakefield should be starting game 4 if they make it there and not Lester. Lester in Coors is a risky proposition.

Ideally, the Sox will not need Beckett to pitch tonight,and he can start Game One of the World Series. However, if Dice-K falters, Beckett could give the Sox a couple innings and be ready for Game Two, if they can win tonight. I’m all for everyone except Schilling, Wakefield and Gagne pitching tonight. It would be a great confidence boost for Dice-K if he can post a quality start tonight.

Last night was absolutely awesome, and I’m really excited for tonight. I hope Dice-K can prove that he’s really worth the money…and if not, sacrifice Beckett for a few innings in relief. The only person I’d really cringe if I saw in the game is Gagne (and I did that last night!).

I hope it’s an exciting one… I wish I was gonna be there, but Fenway better be REALLY loud tonight!!!

Even if Beckett pitched tonight he still could start game 1. His pitch count would determine his status for game 1.

Wakefield has 2 years left. He will not pitch until he is 50. I here people say/write that and find that to be funny. His body is breaking down a little right now, how is he going to last until he is 50?

What does his body matter when he is throwing a pitch that is 65 mph?? If he was like a Pedro or a Clemens and put everything he had into a pitch going 95 miles an hour then it would be important to keep your body from breaking down. But all he does is push a ball 65 mph, 80-100 times a night 60 feet 6 inches away. Why did Niekro last until his late 40s? Because he threw an knuckler. If it is not for the Red Sox then Wakefield will catch on somewhere, with a team willing to take a chance on him when he is in his mid to late 40s, I believe. Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.

I think I have heard it all and when you wrote “what does his body matter”. Are you serious? It matters a whole bunch. Why was Wakefield shutdown for a while and wasn’t on the playoff roster in the 1st rd? I will answer that for you, his body was sore and had some physical isssues. We agree to disagree as you wrote earlier.

this whole wake/inn’s eater theory is a joke. wake has pitched 200+ inn’s 2X in the last 8 yrs. he’s only pitched 180+ 3X. and his era is rediculous. he’s totaly dependent on huge run support. he is, like niekro, a gimmck. he prob could pitch another 5-6 yrs but at some point you have to cut the cord. he’s gonna be a .500 pitcher most years at best and he’s a liability in the post season. he should do the classy thing and retire. if he pitched for anybody other than boston or NY he would have been out of the league a long time ago.

Wakefield is on a year to year basis. I would expect him too be back next year. I don’t mind seeing him on the Red Sox roster for 2008. 4 million dollars and he can give you close to 30 starts. A 17 game winner this season, sounds good to me. He’ll give you the innings and that is what the Red Sox want. I don’t want Mirabelli back, he is nothing but an automatic out. It is time too say goodbye to Mirabelli when the season is over and this time for good.

smckinny,

If the Sox waived him a few years ago someone would have scooped him up. This day where pitching is desperate, a guy like Wakefield is valuable to a staff. He’ll give some quality starts and as we know some not so quality starts.

I agree with you smckinny on the use of Beckett. If Francona used him too much he wouldn’t be available for game 1 and the Sox don’t want that. If Beckett pitched too much tonight, Wakefield would be the game 1 starter.

smck:Your “gimmick” idea.. hmmm. A gimmick that has worked for what, 12-13 years?? Not bad for a gimmick, huh???
I was shocked to see a clean inning from Gagne, and would stil cringe if he came in tonight.

About 120 minutes til 1st pitch. Here’s hoping tha Matsuzaka had his eyes opened the other night and he gets off to an awesome start tonight.

BELIEVE, BELIEVE, BELIEVE!!!

We are the blogging Faithful (not as catchy as the Fenway Faithful). Think positive, quiet confidence. Candles, ritual uniforms, red socks, water bottles, whatever it takes. We are THE REDSOX NATION, 1000% behind our team. We eat, breathe, sleep RedSox and Dream World Series for our Guys.

bosox. i don’t think wake would get an offer from anybody. wakefield is not a “pitcher”. he’s an gimmick. he’s hard to hit some nights but most teams IMO would not want him. there’s a reason there are no other knuckle baller’s in b-ball. 1 pitch pitchers are too risky. especially starters.

ellen. i’ve always said i admire what he’s been able to do. but the fact is, IMO, if he pitched for any other team he woulda been done a long time ago. he’s benefited greatly from being on a great offensive team over the years. i mean really if he were starting tonite how good/confident would you feel?

ellen. a gimmick in terms of wake/b-ball is s-thing you never see. once you see it once or twice it becomes easier to deal with. hence the reason he rarely make it past 5-6 inn’s or that far against veteran teams.

I’ve been a fan of the Red Sox since I was eight years old but I will say last night was it. They will be shelled by the Indians early. Dice-K desperately wants to win but he doesn’t have it. He will try too hard and struggle with control and go down in two — if we’re lucky. In the meantime the Sox bats will be quiet but Manny is right — we always have next year.
As far as Tim, the knuckleball is the most difficult pitch to hit, the hardest to throw and the hardest to predict. The pitch isn’t used much because it’s very hard to learn — not because of effectiveness. I like Tim a lot. he’s a good guy from what I hear and a bargain price.

Another clouded judgment by the one person who is on here way too much and puts his dense knowledge of baseball into his posts. Smckinny, Tim Wakefield is 17-12 this year with a 4.76 ERA and 1.35 WHIP which IMO is **** good when facing American league teams and all you throw is a knuckleball, a 75mph fastball and a slower curve. Wake has a lifetime 4.33 ERA. And FYI in the 17 games he has won this year, 13 have been decided by less than 3 runs. Not much support in those situations.

I’ve probably been a sox fan longer than many of you have been alive. I remember Teddy Ballgame Yaz, Tony C and too many loses in the playoffs /w series etc. This team is solid. I haven’t been much of a Wakefield fan simply because the knuckleball is far too unpredictable. Even he doesn’t know what it will do each time he throws it. I think what many of you are missing though is Schilling will be on his usual rest for game 2. The series starts Wednesday. Thursday would be Schill’s next time to pitch were it the regular season so why not now? Also, today would be Beckett’s day to throw on the side, as pitchers do so what does it matter if he throws 30 or 40 pitches in the game or the pen? Matsusaka has been a gamble all year long. Despite playing in Japan he IS still a rookie. He came up big in the world championships a few years ago and could tonight. If he can go 5 or 6, then Beckett for 1, Okajima for 1 and Pap finishes it off and its hello Rockies, the now likely stale Rockies.

I am almost 100% confident in a Sox win tonight. Then again I always am so that doesn’t mean much. Westbrook did it once to the Sox, on his own mound against a team that wasn’t hitting. Now he goes to Fenway in a hostile environment and except for maybe 1 or 2 guys, everyone else is firing on all cylinders.

Dice-K shouldn’t go out there thinking he needs to go 7 or 8 perfect innings. Just get 15 outs and turn it over to the bullpen/Beckett. The one thing I am most confident in is that Matsuzaka has a safety net tonite in Beckett if things go wrong.

1967… Watching the games with my grandparents. I was a mere 7 years young… Sure wish I still had all the souvenirs I had back then. The yearbook, the 8×10 black and white photos… Reggie Smith was my fave. Fast forward 40 years–I love Mike Lowell like I loved Reggie Smith, and HECK YEAH – I BELIEVE!!!!! GO SOX!!!!!!!!!

It all comes down to two things. Will Dice-K throw strike one and pitch ahead in the count? That’s my biggest concern. The other is will the Sox solve Westbrook? This has all the makings of a 10-7 game.

I don’t understand why Ellsbury wasn’t running. Maybe he didn’t have a good read. For a fast guy, Lugo hits into a lot of double plays. Still, another run which is good. Nice job by Ellsbury fighting off a tough two strike pitch.

It’s almost a relief to see our deadbeat Drew and Lugo back to their old selfs. I don’t know if I could handle a world with these guys making 9-14 Million a year and actually contributing. Next thing you know I’d have pigs flying through my windows. Thank God we are leaps and bounds better than these other teams for 4-5 GIDP per game might actually hurt us. I know I’m not a major leaguer… but there has to be something a batter can do to try to avoid a double play? Is there any adjustment possible? I’ve seen a million of these games… chance to put a team away… let them back in.

rayman94: DP balls are meant to be exactly that: hard to lay off of and unless you have super speed, you’re always gonna be done.

Plus, Westbrook is that type of pitcher so that doesn’t help our cause any.

But, Dice-K got out of this inning; however, if you noticed, he’s started to nibble at the corners again and sort of stopped attacking the strike zone. Unless you can get that through to him and his confidence up that he’ll be fine, you don’t let him pitch in the 5th anymore if he allows a baserunner.

Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief that we’ll probably never have to see Crisp as our starting center fielder again. I’d also like to take this opportunity to say “I told you so” to all those whiners out there with the… “Francona is coach and you’re sitting at home… he obviously knows that Crisp is the better CF.”… It took all the way to the point when Crisp was convulsing incoherently at the plate before making the change. We could have won many more games much earlier if he just had the gonads to make the change earlier. There is a lot of pride and “tradition” with some of these coaches that prevent them from doing the obvious.

Cleveland is one classy team. I have a high respect for the manager and its players. They have heart. I’m of course estatic that the Sox won but I feel for Cleveland. They’re not like the Yankees. To all the Cleveland fans my respect for your team.

Also want to add that Crisp made the catch of the year. It was impressive and a great way to end the nailbiter. Once again Dice-K was vulnerable but is getting better. The problem is that he’s unable to get past batters. They work his pitch count up so high. He needs to be ten times better against Colorado. They are killers.

Who would’ve thought the Indian’s third base coach could have caused the greatest momentum shift in that game? The tribe went from tie game, man on second with one out to inning ending double play. They never scored after that moment.

This is the punch the Sox have been waiting for when their whole lineup is clicking at the plate.

Colorado’s been hot, but hopefully 13 days off will bring them back down to earth, just in time to run into Beckett in Game 1 on Wednesday. GOOOO SOOOOX

Finally, my hats off to Papelbon. He is amazing. This guy is Mr. Reliable. He’s a machine. He and Beckett are the reason why they are in the post season. Also want to mention the amazement I have at the entire team. Everybody contributed. Even J.D.Drew finally got his moment. No question though if I picked a season MVP I’d pick the team. All of them have been impressive and when one goes down, four others go up.

Just got back from our Red Sox Nation Orlando gathering. With the exception of being at Fenway Park, there is nothing better than watching a dramatic win like tonight among a group of Red Sox fans at a sports bar!

I’m about to write my post at Sox and Pinstripes right now. Not sure if I will be able to sleep tonight. What a great comeback, and pure domination outscoring the Indians 30-5 in three consecutive wins.

Wow, It’s a bright beautiful RedSox kind of day. So far no need for rose colred glasses.
What a great weekend. The way our 6-9 guys stepped it up was fantastic. I read peoples remarks earlier in the week that this team didn’t have the chemistry that the 04 team had. I disagreed then and now. It hadn’t been proven then but it has now!! I’m hearing on ESPN Mike and Mike that people are having a problem with Millars “pep talk” Saturday and with him doing the line up last night. That was cleared through Orioles management even before Millar was contacted. I think that was a SPARK somehow. It raised my RedSox spirit. Ditka says it was totally inappropriate and that Millar is just another guy, and they should have gottn the Mayor of Boston or the Governor. I think Ditka should stick to something he knows like doing Best Buy ads with Elway.

I’m in SUCH a good mood today!! :D how often is it that you ground into 14 double plays in a 7-game series and still manage to win? haha.. if it wasn’t for that, the game would have gotten out of hand much quicker last night.. oh well, i’m looking forward to josh in game 1 on wednesday!!!

ellen, don’t listen to Dikka. he didn’t know what he was talking or doing. You invite the Mayor or the Governor to throw the first pitch in Game 1 or 2, not in Game 6 or 7. What a jerk Ditka is.
I think it was a nice gesture to invite Mueller and Millar, who were a big part of hte 04 team, to throw the ceremonial first pitch in Game 6 and 7. I was thrilled by the idea.

Honestly, I was little concerned about Game 5 since too mnay breaks went the Tribe’s in the previous games. I was afraid that Beck would lose 1-2. Once the Sox got by Game 5, I was confident and no doubt that the Sox will win the ALCS.

I might add that awesome combination of Oki Papalbon, as throughout the season,

was the main reason the Sox took Game 7. Do not forget the score was 3-2 when Oki came on board in the 6th.

bosox, Lugo (dropped the pop fly and failed to turn a sure dp ball) almost costed the Sox the championship. If Lofton scored, the game would be tied and with one out and man on first. Who knows what would follow in a tie game. Whew!!

As I think about the game last night — wow, did we walk the edge of the cliff or what?

(1) Lofton, being called out at 2nd (probably safe — but close enough that it was not a bad call — how could the ump know in real-time speed that Pedroia’s glove didn’t get Lofton’s hand)

(2) Lofton being held at third (Lofton must think he has his own personal post-season curse :)

(3) Garko’s double — 2 feet to the right and its a two (or would it have been three?) run homer

(4) Lugo’s two miscues — man, did Oki and Pap pick us up on both those occasions?

Who knows what kind of momentum shift might have followed if anyone of those had gone the other way —

Then again, the way Ped and Youk were hitting, I’d like to think we would have scored nearly 8 runs anyway.

I have to say, I didn’t have the same positive feeling I felt with the ’04 team, probably cause you think it can’t happen twice, didn’t see the muster in this team until now.

Same challenges as we face the Rockies, somebody besides Becket has to win 2 games!!! You might say, likely balance for success is (we will need): 2 wins go to pitching (Beckett) — 2 wins by the offense — but anyway it comes — maybe it will snow so much in Denver, we can use Beckett 4 times — LOL !!! and win that way

The Rox beat Beck and Schil pretty bad in June and took 2 out of 3 in Fenway. That was regular season which didn’t mean a thing. Ask the Yanks about the Tribe. However, the Sox shouldn’t take the young and fearless Rockies for granted as they have to 3 games at the chilly Denver. But the Sox will ultimately prevail.

wow. don’t know who is happier today. me, the guy who owns the bar i’ve been watching these last 3 games at or the people at fox sports. i guess it’s prob the team. i think you cold make a pretty good argument that this was more impressive than the ’04 comeback. probably not given the circumstances and history but great to watch nonetheless.

As an unabashed supporter of Tito, I think you have to recognize the little things he did. In both Games 6 and 7, he put CoCo in as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning, switching Jacoby E. to left field and removing Manny from the line-up. With the catch CoCo made against Blake for the last out of Game 7, you gotta recognize Tito was not gonna be foiled by Buckner-itis. CoCo came up limping after his amazing catch. I sure hope he didn’t seriously hurt himself. Has there been any mention made of how he is?

Francona made all the right moves last night. He pulled Dice-K at the right time and brought in Papelbon at the right time. How good was that Sox pen last night? Okajima has been doing it all year and Papelbon he is just fire coming out of that pen.

I wonder what the roster will look like for the World Series. I would like too see Tavarez instead of Gagne.

Sox and Rockies almost pulled off that trade last winter. I guess both teams made the right call. I remember a story last winter that Francona told. He called Mike Lowell during the trade talks and when Lowell answered he said this is Mike Lowell the #6 hitter for the Rockies. How funny is that? Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.

Rockies are going to be a very tough opponent. When the Sox hit Denver, that is going to be the toughest place they have played yet.

Putting Coco for the defense in the 9th was more of a symbolic goodwill gesture. It turned out that Coco made a spectacular crashing catch to end the game. Pap saved the game in the 8th inning. I did not believe that the Sox would lose in the 9th even if Gagne was on the mound.
The Indian played horribly defensively and offensively in Game 6 & 7.

I see that the 1985 Royals came back from a 3-1 deficit, both in the 1985 ALCS and then immediately again in the 1985 WS (against St.Louis).

Don’t want to go through another steep up hill climb again — but hey, as Manny says, whatever happens, happens.

I remember the 85 word-series, the worst bad call in ML history that I can remember. St. Louis was robbed by that horrible call that cost them game six and the series — so I am not sure any team has really climbed out of 3-1 hole twice in row – discounting 85 to the umpires.

Sox played in Colorado in 2002, can’t remember how they did though. I agree with everyone, the Indians run a classy organiztion so watching them lose is not as sweet as a team like the Yanks. I have no respect for Lofton or Martinez though, so seeing him cry was kinda funny.

I believe if Lofton scores there Cleveland goes on to win 4-3. Who knows maybe Pedey still hits that homer, but I think it took all the wind out of Cleveland’s sails. Betancourt would have been sharper and more locked in with a run lead. It seems like whenever Lofton is involved in an ALCS against the Sox, they always make that magical comeback.

The WS will be very competitive IMO and the Sox will finally get to celebrate a WS championship at home in the 6th or 7th game.

We are not 1-5 against the Rocks this year, dgneubert. We played them once this year and lost 2 of 3. The AL never plays the NL more than once, unless they are a natural rival (Mets-Yanks, DRays-Marlins, A’s-Giants, etc.)

Not true about National league v. American league playing each other. For instance I live in Chicago and the White Sox always play one series against the Cubs in the South Side and one series at wrigley. Maybe I misunderstood the issue.

My mistake, they played at Fenway in 2002 like 007chow said. That means they never played at Coors since they only started Interleague play in the late 90s and it was always AL East vs. NL East for the first 4 or 5 years. Should be interesting to see how they utilize Ortiz/Youkilis in those games. Ortiz is hurting so he will probably play 2 of the 3 games and sit the one that Francis pitches (Game 4 or 5). With Youk in there, the order should be:
Ellsbury

Pedroia

Youk

Manny

Lowell

Drew

Tek

Lugo

Maybe you flip flop Youk and Lowell but I would keep Mikey where he has had success this season.

Ortiz will be in the lineup for 2 games, that is how they have played it in the past. Interleague games over the last few years. Youkilis will probably see some action at 3b, 1 game. That is what Francona has done in the past.

Lowell, Youkilis and Ortiz will be out of the starting lineup for 1 game. This is where Youkilis’ flexibility helps, he can get in a game at 3b. I think you could see Ellsbury lead off a game or so when the series hits Denver.

Brian, I don’t think Ortiz sits at all. This is the World Series, not interleague games. I think it will be Youk who sits, probably for all three games. You can’t take out Papi’s bat, and sitting Mikey with Papi at first would significantly diminish the Sox infield defensively. Given the choice between Mikey and Youk at third, the nod has to go to Mikey. Plus, this gives Tito a good right handed bat off the bench which he doesn’t have now and/or a good defensive replacement for Papi. I don’t think our great minds are thinking alike on this one.

If Youk sits, I could see Ellsbury leading off with DP moved to second in the lineup.

All I’ve heard about all day is that stupid play at second base when Manny threw Lofton out.

First, I’ve been complaining all year about umpiring, but in this case, the umpire was in perfect position to see and make the call. Good job there.

Second, there is no question that Lofton’s hand beat the tag to second base. At that point he was safe.

However, replays clearly show that after hitting the base, Lofton’s hand came up off the bag and he was not in contact with the bag when Pedroia tagged him. He absolutely, positively was out and he knew it which is why he didn’t argue the call.

If you watch the replay, Lofton comes up like he’s going to object, but my guess is that the umpire immediately told him his hand came off the bag, he knew it, and that was the end of it. There was also no argument from the bench, probably because Lofton didn’t start jumping up and down.

These freaking announcers, Buck and McCarver, never got passed the hand getting to the bag first. They are clueless. Good job by the ump for being where he was supposed to be.

The problem with Ortiz playing all 3 games in the field is you don’t know how his knee is going to hold up. If he were heathly no question he would play all 3 games like he would have in 2004. Best case scenario, Francis starts game 5 and Ortiz sits that one out and has 2 days rest after playing the prior 2 days in the field. I wouldn’t sit Lowell for any of the 3 games at Coors. He was the best hitter on the Sox all season and by putting Youk at 3rd you lose a lot of defense. Lowell is behind only Chavez as the best defensive 3B in the league and Youk has played about 5 games there all season. Youk came up as a 3B but it is clear the position he was made for is 1B.

Good catch bosox about the Sox playing in Denver in 2004. That totally slipped my mind. If I remember correctly the 11-0 blowout win was started by D-Lowe. That was the NL West team he should have gone to. Sinkerballers in Colorado are like gold.

Feel free to visit the site, join up and RSVP for our gathering Wednesday at the Sanford Ale House by the Seminole Towne Center. I encourage any reader here who lives in Central Florida to join the group. It was especially a blast last night!

I also have a feeling that Ortiz will sit out at least one game in Colorado. He is playing with a torn meniscus in his knee, after all. He struggles to make it through a game as a DH. At this point of the season, it makes no sense to play someone out of position because defense is especially vital in the post-season, so likely Lowell, Youkilis and Ortiz will each sit out one game. The first two games of this series are very important for Boston. They need to win them both since they will be minus a batter in Colorado.

Interesting article here on Redsox.com about Tim Wakefield and the Coors Field. Tito and his staff are thinking about maybe start Wake in game 2 in Fenway so he could avoid the thin air of Coors Field in game 4, where a knucleball is less likely to “dance”.

Well guys we are American league Champs!How was the kool aid Ellen and BoSox Brian?!But we still have a very dangerous Rockies team to face.Do not be surprised if this series goes 7 games as well.I beleive in our guys though.lets go Sox!All the Yankee fans today shook my hand and gave their respects.

Man oh’ man, I’m still in awe of the feat that the team just accomplished.

I crack up everytime I see Papelbon dance. Did you guys see Paps and Youk challenge each other to a dance-off, DOING THE RUNNING MAN! HAH!!

However, unless Paps was extremely happy, he may have been extremely intoxicated. He was dancing in his underwear, pouring beer on the ALCS trophy, and being simply wild. A little disturbing if I do say myself.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.